


Shin Megami Tensei Revelations: Riverdale

by Cythieus



Category: Persona Series, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archery, Crack Crossover, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Experiment, Gen, High School, School, Season 1, Shadows - Freeform, Switchblade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 23:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18537523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cythieus/pseuds/Cythieus
Summary: Archie, Jughead, and Cheryl stumble into a world of shadows created from the cognitive desires of those around them. Cheryl thinks it has something to do with her brother's death. Riverdale/Persona





	Shin Megami Tensei Revelations: Riverdale

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't really meant to be anything more than me writing up an idea gleamed from a Reddit post that I saw. It's kind of an interesting mix of things and really, Persona rules wouldn't really make Riverdale make any less sense.

It wasn’t like Archie Andrews remembered stepping into Pop’s Chocolate Shop or sitting down at the bar. He had no idea how long he had been there. Then again, he knew it wasn’t Pop’s. This place looked enough like the real deal. The neon glow of violet, blue, and red signs caused the air to glow purple in the space between the booths and the tiled ceiling. 

A smell like fresh burger grease, melting cheese, and buttered buns wafted through the air, but it felt perfectly replicated. Artificial. There was no draft of movement in the air. A haunting, operatic tune played from the jukebox, it was the same music that played in this otherworld version of Pop’s all of the time on a loop. 

That natural charm that the little old style diner usually oozed from its very pores was absent. 

Archie leaned forward, clasping his hands together to rest on the bar as he let out a sigh. He was in his letter jacket, though he didn’t feel the yellow leather against his arms. It didn’t really feel like he wore anything at all. The proprietor of this place had been less than clear in what was really going on here. The lacquered wood creaking to his side alerted him to someone leaning against the bar. He looked up to see the bug eyed, long nosed man. 

The man interlaced his long fingers resting his chin on top of them. “Welcome to the Velvet Room!” 

Archie nodded. “Mister Igor—I don’t understand why I’m here,” Archie said, frustration brimming just beneath his words. 

Another voice came from across the room. “Our place is to assist the patron in their journey—to make sure that they have the tools they need to face the challenges that they face.” The woman who spoke to him looked like his Miss Grundy—but her hair was silvery white and pulled back into a haphazard bun with golden clips holding it in place. Her skin seemed paler here, more plaid. And her eyes were striking yellow. 

“All of your questions will be answered in due time, but for now you understand the basics of the power of this?” Igor produced a huge ornate card, the kind fortune tellers used. In the corner was a zero and the darkened figure in its center was labeled as ‘the Fool’. 

“You said something about me being…a void?” Archie asked. 

Igor nodded. “This is not to be taken lightly. The Fool is the number zero and it is the void from which all other things come to be.” 

“Is that why I can summon others. I mean, more than one Persona?” Asked Archie. 

A sharp smile appeared on Igor’s face. “The Fool is jack-of-all-trades. You’re able to convert the shadows you find in the valuable allies.” 

“And my Jug and Cheryl? They can’t do this?” Archie asked. 

The other Miss Grundy was behind the bar now, next to Igor. “He’s talking about the Devil and the Emperor,” she explained to her master. 

Igor held up a hand to silence her. “Their destinies are intertwined and shaped by yours.” 

“But—“ Archie started, but a sharp whistle cut him off. He blinked and he was sitting on the bleachers in the gym. Coach Clayton jogged backwards in front of a group of Bulldogs running drills. 

“Archie Andrews?”

Cheryl Blossom was sitting next to him on the wooden bench. Her hands were pressed primly into blue and white cheerleading skirt. There was a bag slung over her shoulder, not a normal school bag, but a long slender thing with leather strap. He must have neglected to answer for some time, so she drilled a manicured nail into the side of his neck. He jerked himself away from her touch. 

“Did you hear any of what I just said?” Cheryl said. 

“Sorry, my head was somewhere else.” 

“I don’t know how. You and Jughead got me wrapped up in your…Disney Channel Presents drama hallucination. What was all of that?” She asked. 

“I—I can’t explain it.” 

“I can feel her; I can feel Lilith inside of me,” Cheryl whispered. “What did you do to me?” 

The same words that had echoed through his mind in those desperate few moments before those creatures ended his life in that other version of Riverdale High bellowed from somewhere deep down inside of his gut, spoken by the voice of the one that called himself Robin of Loxley. “I am thou, thou art I...” 

“I didn’t do anything,” Archie said finally. “She’s part of your, I think.” 

Brushing a tendril of red hair away from her cheek, she leaned closer to Archie. “What does that mean? You don’t know, right? Well you better figure it out.” 

“We have to figure it out. Together. You, me, and Jug—we have to go back to that place.” Archie explained. “You want to find out what happened to Jason, right?” 

“More than anything.” 

“Just trust me, Cheryl.” 

* * *

* * *

The bright red door at the end of the junior hall that hadn’t been there before last week. Realistically there wasn’t anywhere for the door to open into, it was against an outside wall. No one spoke of it and when asked they had no idea what you were talking about. Archie had been the first to notice it and open it, but he had been talking with Jughead at the time. The moment that he opened it, Jughead immediately saw it too. Cheryl finding out was just the collateral damage of her nosiness. 

Now Jughead was sitting off to the side of the door, his dark hair jutting out of his hat and down around his eyes. He shifted his weight, moving his book bag to the other arm as if he senses Archie and Cheryl. 

“So we ready to go?” Jughead asked.

“You didn’t try to go in there alone, Jug?” Asked Archie. 

“I tired to open the door; it won’t budge.” 

Cheryl gave a little smirk, leaning between the two of them before she grasped the knob and twisted it only for it to resist sternly. “It’s like it doesn’t even turn,” she said furrowing her brow. 

“I’m pretty sure only you can open it,” Jughead said slinging his hand up to point at Archie before letting it fall down to his side. 

“What makes you think that?” Asked Archie. 

“Call it a hunch,” Jughead said. “Go ahead, lets open the door to Kingdom Hearts or this Jungian nightmare or whatever.” 

Jughead glanced over his shoulder, obviously surveying the hallway for any prying eyes. Archie grabbed the knob and turned it, the door opened inward to an inky blackness. Archie pressed through with Jughead and Cheryl bringing up the rear. 

Behind them the door vanished; they were in the middle of the hallway of Riverdale high, but things had changed. Not a soul was in sight and the walls were plastered with posters of Jason Blossom standing on the football field decked out for the big game with his helmet dangling from one hand. Strands of police tape dangled from above like old moss hung from trees.

Cheryl stepped closer to the wall to touch her brother’s face with her index and middle finger. 

A childish laugh trickled down the hall, moving past them with no source. Jughead pulled his switchblade, flicking it open as his eyes scanned his periphery. “Heads up,” he said. 

One of the creatures they had seen last time floated around the corner at the fast end of the hall. It was just as mortifying on a second viewing. Its body was an orb, stripped black and white like a zebra. It had no eyes or nose or anything else of a face with the exception a huge pair of smirking red lips. Another one of the things turned the corner, following behind it and coming for them fast. 

Archie instinctively fell into his boxing stance, his hands up at the ready. He glanced over to see Cheryl sling the black satchel that hung from her shoulder onto the ground so that it was standing in front of her. Unzipping it, she revealed her long bow, a quiver, and arrows along with her gloves and a deep red hooded hunting cloak. 

She sprung up, drawing one of the arrows and forgoing the cloak and gloves to fire two quick shots at the creatures. The arrows found their marks in the middle of each of the thing’s mouths, bringing them sliding to a stop in the hall a few meters away. 

Cheryl stepped in between Jughead and Archie as they both stared at her. “What, I wasn’t going to risk being accosted while you punched it or jabbed at it with that paring knife,” she explained as she gathered her quiver and slipped into her hunting cloak. “So are you going to check them or…”

Jughead nodded at her, but kept his knife in hand as he edged forward to examine the two bodies. Before he could get close enough to surmise anything new the bodies began to bubble and hiss. Dark red steam rose out of the corpses as they started to melt away. He paused.

“Just like last time,” Archie said. 

“And we’re still left with no answers,” Jughead replied. 


End file.
